Interview: CJ The Genesis

“I honestly believe that this project will be the one that will take me somewhere.  Quote that.”

CJ The Genesis is a rapper and beatmaker from the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) area of the United States.  He’s been active since 2008 or so and has released quite a few projects which can be found on his bandcamp page.  I found his music to be really great and worthy of at least a blog post promoting his stuff, so I asked him for an interview.  He kindly obliged.  His answers are fairly long and mostly uncut from their e-mail interview format to retain CJ’s complete point of view and intent (so expect some lol’s – I think it’s more interesting and conversational that way anyways).  I’m really excited about this interview because my last few were interviews of rock bands/artists, and I think it’s interesting to get some hip-hop related stuff on the blog.  It’s a genre I love so much and I’d like to do some more interviews/reviews of it in the future.

CJ is coming out with a new album in 2011.  It’s titled Impulse and it’s first single, “Who Knows” is intelligent, musically interesting, and most of all extremely catchy.  You can listen to it and download it here.  Anyways, that’s a terrible introduction.  I’ll let CJ tell you about himself, his music (past and present), and his future.  And it wouldn’t be on Nick Reviews if it wasn’t interesting!

Nick Reviews: Describe your musical history: what got you into music, how you started rapping, and your past releases.

CJ The Genesis: What mainly got me into music was me enjoying poetry as a child.  I didn’t really listen to that much hip hop music when I was young. All I cared about was learning (when it was actually enjoyable), video games, and waking up to watch the new Digimon and Pokemon episodes, haha.  But doing poetry got me interested because I realized that rap (and all music) is simply composed and rhythmic poetry, so I took a jab at it, and connected.  As far as my past releases, I’ve had 6 mixtapes drop in the past 2 years, with “World Domination” in 2008, “Spaceship”, “World Premier”, “Yea, I’m A Nerd”, and “Hiatus” in 2009, and “Feng Shui” in 2010.

NR: Do you make your own beats, work with other producers, or both?

CJ: I make my own beats, but I like to work with other producers at times. I like to use instrumentals too, for when I feel lazy, lol.

NR: You’re coming out with a new album, Impulse, in 2011.  When is that going to drop and what was your goal with it musically and lyrically?  What influenced it?

CJ: Impulse is gonna drop in 2011.  I’d like to say that its going to drop in April or around that time.  I’ve been working on this since before “Feng Shui” actually.  “Feng Shui” was actually impulsively created from ideas I got from a ustream session, haha, but back to Impulse.  The first song I worked on for this project I finished back in… March?  Yeah, March, and that song is probably gonna be the one that’ll make some of you cry.  Seriously.  As far as the goal of the project, I wanted to show a lot of emotion on this, in where the tracks would be recorded during a situation, after, and etc, in order to capture those raw feelings.  I don’t want too many songs where I say how nice I am, because I think this project will show that in general.  Maybe 1 or 2 for the sport of it, but not too much.  The subject matter in it is stuff that can be relatable to anyone my age, younger, or older, whether its being broke with no alternatives, pursuing your dreams, wanting more out of life, changing into someone you didn’t want to be, dealing with love, and all kinds of stuff.  It’s really going to be an experience, and I’m willing to bet my life that this will be one of the best projects you’ll hear from someone unsigned in a while.  I honestly believe that this project will be the one that will take me somewhere.  Quote that.  lol

NR: You released a mixtape called “Yea, I’m A Nerd” in 2009.  Being a “nerd” myself, I noticed a lot of the samples are from old video games.  It’s something you never really hear in rap music.  What inspired you to do that and what were your favorite video games as a kid?

CJ: Haha, well, I sampled video games when I was 16, and actually rapped on one on my first mixtape, but the idea actually sparked from an AIM conversation with my friend and fellow artist, Ian (Kevin Abstract).  He thought it would be a good idea to do a project like that and he actually said that title too, so you can say it sparked from that.  At first I was skeptical, but I made the beats to “Unstoppable”, “Yea, I’m A Nerd”, and “Level Up” first, and when I heard how great those were going, I knew that this project would be something truly special.  And video games as a kid?  Ohhhh mannnn *cracks knuckles* I was a Nintendo kid.  I had EVERY Nintendo system.  No Playstations.  A Genesis at one point, but no Sony (though Crash Bandicoot was the shit!) Ok, SUPER MARIO 64, first and foremost.  The only game that was better than that was (and still is) Ocarina of Time!  Ocarina of Time is the best Zelda game, and one of the best (if not THE best) video games of all time!  I also liked playing Super Mario World All Stars, Donkey Kong Country, Spiderman, Batman Forever, and Super Mario World 2 on my SNES.  I had a bunch of games on the 64 too, like Diddy Kong Racing, Rayman 2, Banjo Kazooie and Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, Pokemon Stadium.  I think EVERYONE played Pokemon as a child, and if they didn’t, then their childhoods were preeeetty much ruined, haha.

NR: What do you think sets you apart from mainstream and other more “underground” rappers?

CJ: As far as mainstream, I think I have more subject matter that more people can relate to.  As far as other underground rappers, I think I have some more personality ? Maybe?  I don’t know.  When I think of underground rappers, I think of political, super lyrical, gritty shit, lol.  Honestly, I could give a fuck less about politics because I can’t relate.  I don’t want to be all Malcolm X towards the white man and all that other blabber jabber that comes with most of the cliche underground artists.  Don’t get me wrong though!  I know MANY underground rappers who don’t rap like that, and the main thing that I love about the underground scene is that most people are gonna speak from a personal aspect and not so much bullshit, even though the bullshit is here and there.  I enjoy the stories.  I enjoy the lyricism . I enjoy the struggle.  I enjoy the hunger.  I just don’t enjoy politics, lol.

NR: The chorus of your song “Who Knows” states “if i wasn’t a rapper/who knows where i would be/if i wasn’t a rapper/maybe dead or in jail, or on a whole ‘nother trail.”  It’s message seems to be a little more positive than a lot of rap songs that glorify the violent aspect of the life of a rapper.  Is that a message you want to get out to people who hear your stuff  – that it can be a positive thing – and do you think more rappers should take that route?

CJ: I honestly believe that everyone has their own lane.  While I do believe that music should be more positive, I believe it should be about life and we ALL know that life isn’t positive all the time.  If your life is REALLY filled up with violence and pain and all that, then by all means, please rap about that!  If your life is filled with clubbing, partying, and sniffing coke, then by all means, please rap about that!  I honestly don’t have a problem with ALL of the mainstream stuff cause that’s their life, and its actually enjoyable at parties and what not.  Yeah, I’m an underground rapper, but if you ever partied with me, you’ll see me yelling all the words to songs like “Oh Lets Do It”, “Turn My Swag On” and “No Hands,” haha, really.  Songs like that get you hyped and were meant for that!  People need to relax with all the mainstream hating because unless you sit in your house all day long, you know that when you go to a party that those songs are the best!  But back to the question, haha.  I think that rappers should rap about their lives and what they go through everyday.  As far as the song, ANY rapper can relate.  I’ve talked to trap rappers who have said to me stuff like, “Man, that song really hit me man, and I fuck with you and that song cause of that” which is pretty surreal because I don’t live like them or see what they see everyday, but they can still relate.  Also, with that song, I made it so that people could switch out the word “rapper” with whatever they want to be in life.  Where would you be?

NR: I read online that (fairly famous rapper) Wale was doing a live stream and asked someone to send him a beat to freestyle over.  Your beat was chosen.  What was that experience like?

CJ: Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannn, it was awesome, haha.  I got so lucky.  I was going through a tough time in my life and I was actually off of the computer for a good day or two on some depressive shit, but my friend called me and told me that Wale was on Ustream, and was about to ask for beats.  I had that beat and just had the link ready for whenever he gave out the directions.  So when he did, I sent it, and bam, it was chosen.  I was actually supposed to go to dinner with some of my friends and I was like “YO WALE IS ABOUT TO RAP ON MY BEAT! I’LL TALK TO YOU GUYS TOMORROW!!” on the phone when they called.  I was hungry as hell that night too because the excitement took over that, haha.  It was a great experience though because I’ve been listening to Wale since I was a high school freshman, and I look up to him as a DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) artist and an artist in general, and it was insane when a hero of mine rapped on one of MY beats.  Just plain insanity.  I still can’t believe it sometimes.  I just wish people would recognize me for my rapping instead of THAT beat.  It comes with time though!

NR: Are there any rappers or musicians you’d recommend that a lot of people don’t know about – some more underground stuff?  Maybe guys you’ve worked with in the past?

CJ: *cracks knuckles* M-Trey.  The Rezon.  G-Tactics.  Jonny Jonez . Criss Chords . DLG.  Niccofeem$ta.  Brandyn Jaye.  D.E. Marz . Steve Sequoyah.  CL-Sick.  Black Galiger.  Kevin Abstract.  Grande Marshall.  Ill Doots.  Surreal.  rMell.  Cyrus.  Sir EU.  ReuM.  stateofgrace.  Abyss Da Dark.  Musical Justice.  Suburb N Boi.  There are others I’d suggest, but they’re pretty easy to find.  Us?  We’re the ones who still need to be found!  Sheesh thats a lot of people….. those are the homies though, so I don’t mind ^_^

NR: What’s your goal with music?  To be popular, have a small but loyal fanbase, etc.

CJ: At first, my goal was to get signed.  I think that was everyone’s goal at one point, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar!  Lol, But as I grow as an artist, I realize that all I want with this music is to be able to make a living.  I want to be able to have a house and support a family solely off of doing music and whatever else I wanted to do.  I want to get to the point where I have the money to travel the world to perform and to just see it in general, all because of my music.  Being comfortable off of my dream.  Being able to live it without having to “wake up” from it with another side job or something.  What else could someone want?